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STAGE TO SCREENS: Adam Pascal
By Michael Buckley
25 Sep 2005
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Adam Pascal
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The highly anticipated movie versions of two of the most-successful Tony-winning Best Musicals of the last decade—Jonathan Larson's Rent (1996) and Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan's The Producers (2001)—will be released for the holidays: "Rent" on November 23, "The Producers," December 21. Both will have most of the original Broadway leads preserving their roles on film, casting that especially would please stars such as Angela Lansbury (Mame), Carol Channing (Hello, Dolly!), and Ethel Merman (Gypsy).
This month we chat with Adam Pascal, one of six original Rent leads cast in the film. The others are Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen); Idina Menzel (Maureen Johnson) and Taye Diggs (Benny Coffin III)—who, in private life, are now a married couple; Wilson Jermaine Heredia, reprising his Tony-winning performance as Angel Schunard; and Jesse L. Martin, who has since won TV-fame on "Law& Order," playing Tom Collins. Rosario Dawson has the role of Mimi Marquez, created by Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Tracie Thoms portrays Joanne Jefferson, originated by Fredi Walker. Chris Columbus, whose credits include the first two "Home Alone" and the first two "Harry Potter" movies, directed and co-wrote the screenplay.
Adam Pascal (PAS-cal) recreates his role of Roger Davis, which earned him Tony and Drama Desk nominations, as well as Obie and Theatre World Awards. Those accomplishments are even more noteworthy when you consider that he auditioned on a whim for what turned out to be the former rock singer-musician's first acting stint. He has since done two other Broadway musicals (Aida, Cabaret), two concert benefits (Chess in 2003; Hair, 2004), three other movies (including "The School of Rock"), and a couple of solo CDs ("Model Prisoner," 2000; "Civilian," 2004).
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Was Pascal surprised to be cast in the movie? "I was shocked!" he exclaims. "The film project, in various forms, has been kicking around Hollywood for numerous years. At one point—maybe four or five years ago—Spike Lee was going to direct, but he wasn't going to cast any of [the originals]. Well, I can only speak for myself.
"That fell apart. Then, out of nowhere, I got a call that the film was happening, that Chris Columbus was [directing], and that he was very interested in meeting with [the Broadway principals]. At the meeting, I very much got the impression that he wanted us in the film. I think it was because of our insight into the material and our connection to Jonathan [Larson, who wrote the book, music and lyrics], and because we were the best people for the parts. We had the ability to pull this off like, I don't think, anybody else could have. He had the insight to see all that, and to push for it. Everybody resisted it—the studio, the public: 'They're too old'...'They're not film actors' —all that stuff. Chris trusted his gut and went with it. I really think he made the right decision."
I first interviewed Pascal in 1996, when he was a Tony nominee for Rent. At that time, he said what he liked best about his character was that "Roger gets to scream and yell a lot. [Laughs] He's a likeable guy, but he's a real dark, gloomy guy. He has so much passion and fire about him." Reminding him of the quote makes Pascal laugh. "That sounds like me back then. I wasn't an actor, and I didn't want to be considered one. It took many years for me to embrace it as a craft.
"What I like about the character now is that he's very multi-dimensional. He goes from pure heartbreak [Roger's girlfriend has committed suicide] to being pulled out of that by the love of his friends and the love of Mimi. He's enlightened to the fact that there are people who care about him. It was much more fulfilling to make that journey in the film. I got to think about each moment in a way that I never did when I was doing the show.
"It's not only because the show flies by like a locomotive, but also because I approached [the role] as a singer. I responded to highs and lows in the music. My performance worked because I went on raw emotions. When the music moved me to cry, I cried. I approached it more as an acting role in the movie.
"I wanted the character to seem different to those people who had seen me on the stage. I wanted him to look different. That's why my hair is long. Instead of the pseudo-punk rocker that Roger looked like in the show, he's much more a Springsteen-esque type of character. My hair was long [when filming was about to start] and Chris [Columbus] and I agreed to keep it that way. I now have a short, generic, actor-boy haircut. [Laughs]"
Declares Pascal, "I had more fun making the movie than I did making the show Off-Broadway [where Rent began]. I'm older and wiser, and all the people that I was working with are now my close friends, as opposed to brand new friends. It was like going to camp with your old friends."
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"Rent" started shooting in February. Although set in New York, Pascal points out, "The bulk of the film was made in San Francisco. We shot five days in New York—in Tompkins Square, and on a rooftop on Nineteenth Street and Fifth [Avenue], that's where we shot [the song] 'Glory.' We spent two weeks at Warner Brothers, on a [back lot] Lower East Side [of New York] street. We shot a lot of exteriors there. We did other exteriors in San Francisco. We had incredible set designers, who made a street in San Francisco look like Times Square on New Year's Eve. The loft they built for [the characters] Roger and Mark was fantastic, and it looked so much like Jesse Martin's apartment on Chambers Street when we were doing the show." Continued...
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